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collaboration
You only notice your own effort in group work.
When people are asked to estimate their contribution to a shared task, the sum of their estimates consistently exceeds 100%.
This is due to the availability heuristic: you have direct, constant access to your own internal monologue, your fatigue, and your process, but you only see the final outcome of your partner's work. You overestimate your value because you are blinded to the invisible labor of others.
You are the only person who sees your work.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Ross and Sicoly, 1979
- What the check found
- The citation is accurate to the landmark 1979 study. The mechanism is a matter of ongoing debate in social psychology, but the phenomenon of summing over 100% is a well-established finding.
- Confidence
- Well replicated
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.